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State senator knew FBI raid was coming, say officials

Federal authorities have indicted state Sen. Ron Calderon on charges he accepted more than $100,000 in bribes from both an undercover FBI agent and a Southern California health care executive. (Friday, Feb, 21, 2014)
News10

The state senator at the center of FBI allegations of political corruption was told he'd been courted by undercover investigators one month before agents raided his state Capitol office.

That's according to a 49-page document filed in federal court in Sacramento on Friday, hours before prosecutors in Los Angeles were scheduled to convene a news conference to announce charges in a case sources say is the one facing Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello.

The documents filed in Sacramento are a response to Calderon's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, claiming that it was the feds who leaked the FBI affidavit in the fall of 2013 to the cable news outlet Al Jazeera America. That document was the first public revelation of a case that dated back several years, and included allegations that the veteran legislator had accepted bribes from both an undervcover FBI agent and a southern California health care executive.

In the new court filing, officials say Calderon was told of the investigation during a meeting at the Bellagio Hotel on May 4, 2013.

"The FBI agents offered Calderon the opportunity to cooperate in their investigation," says the sworn statement of assistant U.S. attorney Douglas Miller, "but made it very clear they were prepared to move forward with their investigation if Calderon turned down their offer."

The document says Calderon was interviewed by federal officials five more times. It claims the senator said he had little he could offer them on other individuals, but that he did once wear a hidden recording device in meeting with one person, who is not named.

Calderon, the document says, then skipped another meeting. And ultimately, the raid on his Capitol offices went ahead. Last November, defense attorney Gergaos filed contempt charges against federal prosecutors, claiming they had leaked the affidavit to the media. Friday's filing denies those accusations.